Baku - Azerbaijan - sightseeing around the city.

Baku was the first destination in our 15 day trip of the Caucasus. We arrived two days early, before the 11 day / 11 night organised tour of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. I always like to settle down, do a bit of fact finding and checking out before joining / starting out on tour. We had arranged for a pick up so we were met at the airport by Elchin, our guide, and Xeyrullah, our driver, though their official duties were to begin after two days. This blog is dedicated to both of them for their amazing support and guidance during our stay in their country. 

Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan. In fact the largest city on the Caspian Sea and the region. It is 28 metres below sea level making it the lowest lying national capital and largest city in the world below sea level. About 25 – 30% of the population ;lives in Baku and its surrounds. 

It seems Baku was well established as a major trading centre and many Indian traders dealt with the locals. Its here that the Ateshgah was built in the 17^th – 18^th C. Baku’s wealth actually began when oil was discovered here in 1840. Azerbaijan was taken over by Russia in April 1920 and its only in 1991 after USSR’s collapse, that the country became free – its actually run as a one man political leadership. Whilst there has been considerable progress on many fronts, politics is not one of them. When I jokingly asked a local friend, whom I met after years,  if he was arranging a tea invitation for us at the President’s Palace, he looked horrified and asked me, in the sincerest of tones, not to make such jokes about their President. Dissent and anti Govt opinions are not advised.  

Baku is a very modern city – beautiful buildings – old mansions and very modern skyscrapers are close to each other, the streets are broad in typical Communist country style. The streets are clean, unlike European or American cities. The people are well dressed and the shops match those of Paris and New York.  There are outstanding museums extremely well designed with top grade exhibits and multilingual readable clear captions. We visited the National Museum of History, the Carpet Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Hyder Ali Cultural Centre etc. In each place, guides are available. We spent quite some time at each place. You can read about them in my travel blog. 

We began with the National Museum of History, the Carpet Museum and a long walk in the Seafront area looking for a Mugham Centre which apparently arranges local dance performances. We never found it but then landed up in a Russian restaurant for an excellent lunch to celebrate my birthday. The seafront park has a Tree Garden with some beautiful old trees and captions explaining age and origin. 

Elchin began his tour starting at Martyrs Lane, known as ‘Shehidler Khiyabany’ among locals. We got off in front of the Parliament building. You see the Three Towers – huge blue skyscrapers - on your right and on the left is the entry  - the small memorial leads to the Martyrs Lane.  

It’s a long walk up to the Arch of the Eternal Flame. Actually there are two rows of gravestones of the martyrs – separated by a wide path. Each gravestone has an engraving of the person, the name and other details. Very solemn affair. The Arch is dominating the skyline and when you walk through the Alley of the Martyrs, you will find a beautiful view overlooking Baku’s coastline. We walked all the way and turned towards the funicular entrance where we saw this old beautiful mosque adjacent to the Blue Tower.

Next up was the famed Zada Haddid designed Heydar Ali Cultural Centre – it is HUGE. There are many galleries, many different types of exhibits. Read about it in my blog to be up soon. 

We moved to Icheri Sheher, the old part of the city. The plan was to visit Shirvan Shah's Palace but the local travel agent, Geo Travels who was our agent’s local agency, had not checked if it was open to visitors… and not informed Elchin that it was closed. So, we spent nearly 90 minutes walking on slippery cobblestones looking for the entry only to be disappointed. So, from there, we walked into towards the Caravanserai and the Maiden Tower. 

The main market square was actually a major disappointment as the shops had nothing worth seeing / buying except tourist junk / souvenirs of mediocre quality. One Caravanserai is actually closed for renovation and we went into the other one called the Two Storey Caravanserai where there was large lunch party enjoying a feast. We could only see about 15 feet around the entry door as the rest of the upper part was closed. We walked around the Fort walls for a bit and by then we were pooped with the continuous walking. 

In the evening we went to one of the worst dinner and local dance performances organised by our agency through their local operator Geo Travels for us. It was a disaster as the couple performing did three dances, each being about 3 minutes duration. With the woman changing her dress. Really bad. The food was equally atrocious – read my review on Trip Advisor. I learnt one thing – book dinner - dance performances by yourself – never rely on a local travel agent as they don’t do homework, and charge hefty fees. Ask the hotel for help. You can also book your menu as per your needs. Without being told, our agent decided our menu in Baku, Tbilisi and  Yerevan - poor choice each time and we could not make any changes!!  In Yerevan we went to an incredible opera at the Opera House having bought the tickets on the spot. Unfortunately, here we seem to be out of season for the performances which are held in public auditoriums. 

Now follow a few photographs of buildings at night – the same ones featured above in daytime. Baku looks beautiful by night.  I love the old buildings and you may have seen my blog on Barcelona’s balconies in the old buildings. Baku reminded me of that.

When we planned the trip, we found that nearly all flights went via some place eg Istanbul, German cities etc. There were few direct flights. So, direct to Baku and then back…? We decided from last point Yerevan to drive back to Tbilisi and take an Indigo flight direct home. It was far cheaper and much faster.                                  All good things come to an end. We said goodbye to Elchin and Xeyrullah. Now began the ordeal of the changeover to Georgia.                                                                                                              When I saw that unending 600 m uphill path to the Azerbaijan immigration, my heart sank. My wife took the two strolley bags. I lugged the two large suitcases. If ever there was a time I hated myself for carrying so many extra clothes and items, it was now. But you cant stop on the path. I was very lucky. One section of 200+ m, a young Chinese guy took one bag and suddenly a young Azerbaijan border guard appeared and without saying a word, took one bag after another from me right up to the large gate leading to Immigration. What a blessing.

Here we learnt patience. Reports had appeared in the media that Azerbaijanis don’t like Indian groups and were kept waiting for 4+ hours before processing. But here, we were a mix of Australians, lots of Chinese who seem to be in groups and getting preferential treatment by being allowed into the building, Europeans and us. I waited 20 mins and asked the border guard what was the issue. He rudely waved me back. After another 20 mins, I approached and told him of my wife’s health and showed him the photos !! I said she can’t stand in the heat and needed to sit. No response. A repeat performance after another 20 mins. A chat with his superior and we were allowed into the building to sit. The whole place was full of Chinese… we thought they had all gone through; in fact they were all here waiting. Anyway, after total 90 minutes from arrival, (the Aussies had 4+ hours wait)  we were through immigration and customs and into Georgia where our team waited. What a relief. This procedure was worse than delays at Heathrow or the USA !  

This blog is dedicated to Elchin and Xeyrullar for their dedication, warmth, knowledge and caring. They drove us across Azerbaijan covering Baku - Ateshgah - Gobustan -  Shamakhi - Kish - Lahich - Sheki and then  dropped us off at the border to Georgia, nearly 800 kms over 4.5 days. 

They are a wonderful cheerful pair who were part of the group of guides and drivers in the Caucasus who made our trip memorable. Thank you. 

Their contact details are in the blog on Guides used by us. 

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